Iceland started well but Aron Pálmarsson was out with an ankle injury early on after scoring the first goal of the match. Iceland continued to score leaving Norway to play catch up. “We didn’t hit the day, and we missed the first shots. We missed everything in the beginning. Our defense didn’t work well, and we couldn’t score against (Iceland goalkeeper) Björgvin Páll Gustavsson,” said Norway’s Kristian Kjelling.

The tables turned in the second half with Norway reducing the gap to 18:21 in the first ten minutes and Sverre Jakobsson receiving a red card after his third suspension in the 48th minute, ehf-euro.com reports.

All in all, Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson, who was back after suffering from a calf injury, scored nine goals for Iceland. “We played well as a team and the guys just gave me the ball when I was open and we won,” Sigurðsson said.

Goalkeeper Björgvin was awarded Best Icelandic Player.

Denmark won the championship in 2012, followed by Serbia and Croatia. Iceland finished in 10th place and Norway in 13th. Iceland came away with the bronze medal in 2010.